Nite Times News

MERRY CHRISTMAS

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RNITE-TIMES
REWS

CHICAGO AREA TIMEX USERS GROUP

go ated Cittex Users Group ONNSTS Grove, NOLS
Volume 7, Number 6 November/December 1993
MEMORY MAP
ROUTINES ADDRESS
CATUG Club Officers ........ Diao ah ore Saks R E yaqa ea ete 1
NITE-TIMES Information ¿... .. s s. as i eee jas E ae
Contributors to this ISSUC .....ccescessvcerecvrccerns 2
Club Meetings ..... aid Ya w aa DE Vibe wi gya ASAN pista tree
TreaSury NoteS ........ Ms sarah era A ae die! wawaqa “sa token ane Openers 2
Secretary's NotePad .......... ila: aurea defoneborecatere aen EPEA
GATOR's Twisted Pair (Our BBS) | yi s espi VE SADDER 23
Items for SALE through the Club ...........2.-e cece 204
Special Deals and BuyS .............. ET E T emas Snare T 4
CATUG 1993 Membership List ...... EEA E EE Ggeneset ele ...4
Ads ..... a Caspa wa ga Brace ¿wa s hose <a east e Sea E E sat
Articles:
QLUSTer Upgrade ............ EA cor cutee eves amanaya 6
KEYBOARD MANIA - Part 5 ....................... 7

C.A.T.U.G. CLUB OFFICERS

Here is the list of 1993 club officers and how to contact them.
The club has two strong SIGs, SPECTRUM/TS2068 and QL. If you
have questions about either of these fine machines or even the

ZX81/TS1000/TS1500 call one of the officers. C=312, S=708.
POSITION NAME PHONE PRIMARY FUNCTION

President Nazir Pashtoon 58439-1679 The buck stops here...
Vice-President Steve Cooper S968-3553 Meeting Planning, etc.
Secretary Jim Brezina S832-1782 Records and Reporting
Treasurer Frank Mills $544-1918 Dues and Purchasing
Editor Bob Swoger 8576-8068 Newsletter, BBS, etc.

Copyright (C)1993 Chicago Area Timex Users Group, Streamwood, IL
NITE-TIMES NEWS

Volume 7, Number 6 1 November/December 1993

Rite-TDimes Information

The Rite-Cimes Rews is the
newsletter of the Chicago Area
Timex Users Group. For an
annual fee of $12.00 you can
become a CATUG member and
receive six newsletters each
year. Write your check payable
to:

FRANK MILLS

417 S 47th AVE

BELLWOOD IL 60104

The Chicago Area Timex Users
Group is pleased to exchange
newsletters with other Timex
and Sinclair supporting user
groups at no charge. Send all
newsletter requests to:

CATUG EDITOR BOB SWOGER
613 PARKSIDE CIRCLE
STREAMWOOD IL 60107-1647

If you desire to reprint any
articles that appear here,
please provide credit to the
author and this newsletter.

We encourage your user group to
copy this newsletter and
distribute it at your regular
meetings to your members free
of any charge as we believe
that this will encourage better
meeting attendance. If you are
a user group that feels as we
do, please let us know in your
newsletter so that we might do
this for our members and keep
our attendance up.

Articles originating from our
group may be downloaded from
our BBS and reprinted.

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE

Cedric Bastiaans
Al Feng

Frank Mills

Larry Sauter

Bob Swoger, K9WVY

The Chicago Area Timex Users
Group meets on the THIRD
Saturday of each month at the

home of our meeting coordinator
Steve Cooper in Downers Grove,
Illinois from 1:00 to 5:00 PM.
Steve's home is lovingly called
the CLUB HOUSE and is located
at 1300 Maple Street in Downers
Grove just 2 blocks southwest
of the Downers Grove Public
Library. Steve should always be
contacted evenings at 708/968-
3553 to confirm the meeting
schedule.

TREASURY NOTES

The balance as of Dec. 30, 1993
is $351.73 Our current paid
membership stands at 19.

Frank Mills, Treasurer
Chicago Area Timex Users Group

SECRETARY'S NotePad

November 20, 1993

The meeting opened at 2:35 PM.
Present were Bob Swoger, Larry
Sauter, Abed Kahale, Steve
Cooper, Nazir Pashtoon, John
Donaldson. Frank Mills was
absent because of dental

surgery.

Jay Siegel reportedly was on
his way to Skokie from New York
although nobody has been able
to confirm this as of this
writing. Jay wished to be
present at a CATUG meeting so
that he might show us another
side OF TS2068 computing with
CP/M rather than the LarKen and
JLO DOS that others of our
group use.

Bob Swoger has been working
with Abed Kahale on all kinds
of pictures called RLEs for
Bob's collection, including 5
pictures of Bob's daughter and
put into a program such as a
paint program that Abed has and
manipulated any way that you
want. Pictures can be stretched
and pasted. The Chicago skyline
that appears on the cover of
the Nite Times News has been
manipulated and stretched and
is now part of the document

which has a very pleasing
appearance.

There is some interest in a
Timex Sinclair Fest in Toronto
Canada in the Summer. We have
two or three here interested in
going and SMUG has
approximately 5 people who are
interested in going.

The new Motorola Micro Computer
Club machine is now in
Arlington Heights IL running
RBBS contains RLE and PICT
files and electronic mail. The
number will be published
elsewhere in Nite-Times News.
You get on it by giving it your
name and your phone number as
well as your password which
shouldn't be forgotten. You
can't do anything the first day
which is a day of registration
and after the next day you are
upgraded from a security
clearance of 0 to 5 and you get
all the privileges of the BBS.

LogiCall has been upgraded from
5.0 to 5.1. On disks with
Spectrum programs, the Spectrum
ROM can be up and running by
pressing the "N" key and the
AUTOSTART programs switches
ROMs for you and you are
running in the Spectrum mode.

John Donaldson may become the
QL Chicago Area Timex Sinclair
User Group public domain
Liberian, which he tentatively
accepted. The meeting closed at
3:00 P.M.

December 18, 1994

Meeting began at 2:20 P.M.
Those present: Nazir Pashtoon,
John Donaldson, Frank Mills,
Steve Cooper, Abed Kahale,
Larry Sauter and Bob Swoger.

The first discussion was of Jay
Siegel's visit to the home of
Bob Swoger. Also present were
Abed Kahale and Nazir Pashtoon.
Jay's visit was late one
Saturday evening but he stayed
till well after midnight to
show the fellows as much of his
wares as he could show. He had

with him his TS2068/ZEBRA
system with 4 drives and gobs
of CP/M software. Other
hardware included an OKIDATA
color printer, Commodore and
Tandy color plotters, a SMUG
scanner and 2400 baud modem.
(Here is the person to talk
to, Joan Kealy. NAP) Jay
showed us McMichaels scanner
software. He produced color
pictures and color plots, the
plotter was able to the printed
word in both color and great
detail.

Rod Gowen returned checks for
Jack Dohany's ROM switch kit
for side by side 2068 Spectrum
ROMs. (Jack Dohany's EPROM
burner burned up.) Should not
be switched while machine is in
the powered up mode. If you
have the kit, you should turn
off the power to the
machine. Alternate proposals
were discussed that might
benefit the T/S community and
will be investigated. The
meeting closed at 3:33 P.M.

QL. update discussed. Pashtoon
showed a production disk drive
interface which included a
parallel printer output socket.
He rewired this and redesigned
it to include 512K RAM where it
originally had 64K of RAM.
Pashtoon demo'ed some programs
which will probably be added
the CATUG QL public domain
disk/disks.

Larry Sauter, Secretary
Chicago Area Timex Users Group

GATOR's TWISTED PAIR

! ! ! REMEMBER n.
We have a 24 hour BBS and
encourage you to exchange mail
and contribute to the Download
Section. Use it and have fun!

Call the BBS at 708-576-7083
and register. On your next call
your security level will be
increased to 5 on this RBBS and
you will have all privileges.

Bob Swoger, SYSOP
Chicago Area Timex Users Group

ITEMS FOR SALE THROUGH THE CLUB

It has come to our attention
that some LarKen Users are
using something less than
Version 3 firmware. The club
will supply updated EPROMs,
SYSTEM DISKS, and MANUALS for
just $5 which includes shipping
and handling, free if ordered
with LogiCall or Spectrum ROM.

If you are a LarKen LKDOS
owner and would like a SPECTRUM
V2 kit for your system we will
supply an EPROM, socket and
74HCT32 for $12 which includes
shipping and handling. The
install instructions are in
your LarKen manual. We shall
not be responsible for your
install job. AERCO owners need
only the SPECTRUM EPROM for $10

If you have a mismatch between
you LarKen DOS EPROM and your
Western Digital Controller
chip, we will send you the
correct one for free on behalf
of our friends Rod Gowen of RMG
and Larry Kenny of LarKen. You
should be using L3 EPROMs with
WD1770 controller chips or L3F
EPROMs with WD1772 controller
chips. Check it out! Call in
requests to Bob Swoger at
W708-576-8068 H708-837-7957

SPECIAL DEALS AND BUYS

ee ee ee ee ee ew am a

NAP Ware (Nazir A. Pashtoon's
new endeavor) announces the
availability of all Timex or QL
PAL (Programmable Array Logic)
chips. If interested, call him
evenings on 708-439-1679.

LogiCall Integrated Software
Ensemble easy operating system
for LKDOS in both TS2068 and
Spectrum modes includes
LogiCall 5.0 TASWORD TWO V2.8,
VU-CALC V1.6, VU-FILE and
MTERM2 Drivers modified for
LogiCall, DISKS.Bl TAPES .B1
steprt.Bl HEADER. BT (tape
header reader by Nazir
Pashtoon) FORMAT.B MOVE.BL and
more all on 2 SSDD disks for
$15. You must specify your
LKDOS EPROM version. If you

— Z ee nS

already have a copy you are
encouraged to distribute copies
to other LarKen LKDOS users
for as you see by the price we
are not in the business of
making money on it, just making
LarKen's LKDOS even better!
Call in requests to Rod Gowen
of RMG Enterprises or Frank
Davis of Mechanical Affinity.

So you like to fly? The 747
Flight Simulator for Spectrum
by Derek Ashton of DACC sold
over 40K copies in EUROPE.
Requires Spectrum Emulator. At
this time supplied on LarKen
SSDD disk only for $10 which
goes to Derek Ashton, now
working at MOTOROLA with Bob
Swoger. Call in requests to Bob
at W708-576-8068 H708-837-795

CATUG 1993 MEMBERSHIP LIST

Member Comptr MassStore
kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
Jim Brezina* 2068 Zebra
Steve Cooper 2068 JLO
Bob Currnutt 2068 LarKen
John Donaldson QL Trump

Lee Dorenson 2068 Tape

Ruth Fegley 2068 lLarKen
Al Feng QL Gold

Cy Herre OL MicroDr
Abed Kahale 2068 LarKen
Dave Lebowicz 2068 Tape

Joan Kealy 2068 lLarKen
Leo Majewski QL MicroDr
Frank Mills 2068 lLarKen
Nazir Pashtoon QL Cumana

Larry Sauter 2068 lLarKen
John Shepard 2068 lLarKen
Mike Stevens 2068 RAMAX

Bob Swoger 2068 lLarKen
Grant Thomas QL MicroDr
Lee Thorsen 2068 Tape

Ike Walker 2068 JLO

Ivan Zachov 2068 JLO/LKDOS

* Silent Key

FOR SALE 940101
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES
MIRACLE 512K EXPANDERAM ... $75
TRUMP FLP/RAM ............. $35
Al Feng (505) 843-8414
914 Rio Vista Circle SW
Albuquerque, NM 87105

Wanted: 940304
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETEEEEEEETEESEEEE
FOR CoCo 2 only Universal Video
Driver for Composite Video;

Disk Drive O 5.25" Floppy
Disk Drive Controller w/ cable;
RS-232 "Y" cable; Any ROM
cartridge programs; Any

cassette programs; Any TRS-80
CoCo books other than Color
BASIC and Extended BASIC books.
Larry Sharpe

PO BOX 62156

CINCINNATI OH 45262-0156

FOR SALE 940304
ESESEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES
CoCo3 128K - CoCo3 512K

Disk DR 0 Disk DR 1 & 3 (DSDD)
4 Disk Controllers

2 EPROM burners

MPI (PAL) Soft case

For CoCo:

MODEM 2, LIGHT CONTROLLER

LINE PRINTER 120

DIGISECTOR DS-60/69B

SPEECH SOUND CARTRIDGE

COCOMAX

ALL DISK PROGRAMS ALL TAPES

1 DELUXE JOYSTICK, 4 JOYSTICKS
MOUSE - GRAPHICS TABLET

VIDEO INTERFACE

KINGS QUEST III

COCO2 64K

DISK DR 0

CONTROLLER

CASS&CABLES 2 JOYSTICKS MPI
TRS-80 MODEL III (RS)

48K 2 DISK DRIVES AND ALL
SOFTWARE TO HERE!!!!

$300 TAKES ALL

BARRY RUCHALSKI 708-742-7775

FOR SALE 940304
ESEEETEETEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
I have one (1 count'em) Nuvotel
96424IFX internal fax/modem for
sale. It does data at 2400bps
and faxes at 9600bps. I have
used it for about a year and it
performes flawlessly. Data side
has V.42bis compression & error
correction protocols and MNP
classes 2,3,4,and 5. Fax is
group 3 compatible with v.29,
V.27 ter, V.23, V.22bis, V.22,
and V.21 recommendations. (That
means it does a good job). $30
gets it. Includes DOS software
and everything to hookup.

Mark Hall (214) 262-8320
hallmark@netcom.com

FOR SALE 940304
EEEEEEEEEETEEEEEEEEEEEEESEEESEEE
YEASU FT101 EX TRANSCEIVER $250
5 BAND VERTICAL $50
BARRY 708-742-7775

FOR SALE 11/1/93
EEEESEEEEETEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESS
Ten-Tec Argonaut 509 QRP xcvr,
PS, filter calibrator & manual.

ç te Sisata a. ws E E $450 OBO
Hy-Gain TH3-Jr Tri-band Antenna
balun’ ea ee eeeceeee 9200 OBO

CushCraft Ringo A-2 2mtr Ant
$25 Call Dave 708-991-6810 eves

FOR SALE 940304
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESESEE
SINCE I GOT IT AT A GOOD PRICE,
I'LL BE GLAD TO GIVE IT UP AT
A GOOD PRICE. INDIVIDUAL PARTS
OR ALL TOGETHER. YOUR CHOICE.
NEW AMIGA 500 IN BOX ALL DOCS.

eee rece . creer ever sesececces $250
EXTRA DISK DRIVE .......... $25
EXTRA 512K RAM CARD ....... $25
AMIGA MONITOR AND CABLE ...$150
1200 BD MODEM .........-ee00. $20

APPLE CARTRIDGE WITH ROMs .$200
MIX AND MATCH, MAKE ME AN OFFER
CALL BRUNO RUSSO 708-587-7140

FOR SALE 11/1/93
EEETTEEEEEEEELEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES
RAM upgrades for MAC Four 1 Meg
Simms for sale. ........... $29
Call Chris 708-519-0700

FOR SALE 940304
EESEEEEEEEEESEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES
I< OS=9°C=Compilere sose 5, eues $20
2. Os-9 Level 11............ $10
3. Color Profile........... -$10
4. Os-9 Level I
with BasicO9* .......... $10

5. BasicO9 Tour Guide Book

..... FREE with 2 or 4 above.
6. Complete Rainbow Guide to

OS-9 Book
.. FREE with 2 or 4 above.
* Item #4 contains vs. 01.01.00
& vs. 02.00.00
Tandy Cat. no's. 26-3030
& 700-2331
CAUTION: "YOU" pay all mailing
costs.Inquiries should indicate
need for either or both of the
books. Farrell Kenimer
2601 W. Corrine Dr.
Phoenix, Az 85029-2579

FOR SALE 11/1793
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESS
Apple 14" RGB color monitor &
Laserwriter LS printer both one
year old.

Call Dana 708-383-5363

ARTICLES

QLUSTer Upgrade
by Al Feng

QLUSTer has recently (some will
say finally!) undergone a long
awaited upgrade which had been
partially delayed by a year of
voluntary service (servitude?)
in Western New Mexico (on the
Eastern Navajo Reservation, as
they like to say/suggest to the
potential donors).

As of mid-October (1993), the
latest release version is 5rl109.
The significant change which
prompted the new version number
was the ability to access
already "made" sub-DIRectories
structures.

Sub-DiIRectories [ ... -> ]

Access to the sub-DIRectories
is performed by simply pressing
the appropriate key designate
as you might for an individual
file. QLUSTer will determine
that it is NOT a file, and go
about the task of retrieving
and displaying the sub-
DIRectory.

The sub-DIRectory will be "in
play" even if you change the
device to a floppy which does
not have a sub-DIRectory
structure. The net result may
be an empty page if no files
exist with the appropriate
DIRectory prefix.

Return to the main DIRectory
via a SELECT_DEVICE option
(press '0' to access).

If the disk you are using has
sub-DIRectories [i.e., " ->"],
but your QL does not have not
have the MAKE DIR command, then
QLUSTer will (at last attempt)

simply access the first file in
that sub-DIRectory. Subsequent
files will not be accessible
other than via WCOPY or
WDELete.

Greater "crash" protection

Time away from QLomputing has
helped me resolve the problem
of my version of TURBO (2.00)
implementing file type
recognition. It is believed
that the only reason QLUSTer
will hang-up/crash now is if
the EXECutable file is corrupt
and does not load properly, or
if you are attempting to load
binary code created by (yes,
you guessed it) DIGITAL whose
binary code apparently "looks"
like EXECutable code to the QL

a solution to this is to
place such code in its own sub-
DIRectory (e.g.,"Turbo TK code”
has hung up my QL when testing
the F(ile)TYP(e) check; so, I
have placed it within its own
sub-DIRectory to prevent my
accidentally attempting to
EXEC_W it).

Okay, I'm sure there must be
another way to CRASH the
program, but I'm trying to
avoid thinking about it
(them) .
QLUSTer 5.109 will now "ask"
whether or not your printer is
READY before it will attempt to
send a file down the line.

QLUSTer requires TK2_EXT code.

Same upgrade policy as before
to anyone who has acquired a
copy of QLUSTer either directly
from me, through EMSOFT, or
UPDATE! Just send $2.00 to
cover the cost of a new disk
(specify size) and the postage
and handling (as they say).
Send comments/questions/queries
to:

Al Feng

914 Rio Vista Circle SW

Albuquerque, NM 87105

U.S.A.

HAPPY TRAILS,
AND COMPUTING, TO YOU ...

i 1986 LIST
PESUTSELETTERI STURT aa KKK KK KKK KKK KKK KKK KK KK RK KKK KKK KKK K

KEYBOARD MANIA — Fart 5
XXAYYX1X12312YX3XX1X21X1XXKKXXXXXXXXXXXKXXXXXXYYXXYF2(XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX1XXXXXXXXXX1XXXXYXXXXKXXXXXKX
By Cedric R. Bastiaans @ Fage ñ
NOTE. 1: f f

I encountered several problems with intermittent ribbon cable connections in the
original TI cable of the TI-99/4A KB. From just one, to ten (') out of the fifteen

conductors! This is probably caused by these keyboards being surplus and therefore
not packaged (= not protected) and thusly subject to a lot of abuse.

In hindsight it is therefore much better to REMOVE the original TI cable
altogether, use a new 7-inch length of 12-conductor ribbon cable instead of the
S-inch one I recommended in paragraph IX.8 of Part 4. Then, do away with the
15-pin header strip and check out your modified circuit board directly against the
sOiderpads 1 through 15. Solder the new ribbon cable directly to these pads, again
using the "twistor" instructions of figure 13.

NOTE 2:

This installment will again address itself to keyboards in general. It will give
you hints and tips on finishing your keyboards, either a large, multiple-key
version or a modified TI-99/4A,

Details on the installation of the Korean-made (SE-JIN) TI keyboard (beige keys)
will follow at a later date.

But I have again to voice my opinions about this version of that keyboard. I
stress the point that the Japanese-made (ALPS) KH (black keys) is much to be
preferred. Compared to it, the SE-JIN KB requires more PCB trace-cuts, more
Jumpers, has confusing, poorly executed keyswitch symbols making it VERY EASY to
make mistakes in your modification efforts. In addition, though the physical
modifications to the computer case are certainly not impossible to do for most of
you, they’re more involved.

Then there are some subjective considerations. I already gave you my impression of
the tactile feel of the SE-JIN KB, but there is also the beige color of its key’s.
It’s my considered, artistic opinion that BEIGE does not look good on SILVER!

X. HOUSING AND/OR FINISHING THE KEYBOARD

X.1 LARGE KEYBOARDS

It is imperative that you find yourself a suitable housing for the keyboard AND
the computer board.

I think it’s ludicrous to have your keyboard in a case separate from the computer
case, like for instance the Memotech KB for the 1S1000/7X81. The Sinclair/Timex
computer systems already suffer from the many Ppiggy-backed add-ons they so often
requires; one doesn’t need yet another, large-size add-on!

I have found a keyboard/computer case that is just perfect for our TS2068.

It is made by L M B, 2946 East 11th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90023 and it is their
model KB-17 "The Keyboarder", measuring 7" deep x 17.25" wide x =" high in the
back and 1.5" in the front.

I do not know if L M B would accept mailorder or OTC purchases; I bought my case
from ITC Electronics in LA. It is certainly worth finding out or otherwise have
your favorite electronics store order one for you.

The LMB case is made in two U-shaped parts and had plenty of room for my TS2048
computer board, the two extra PCB's for dedicated key circuitry and the 77-key
full travel keyboard (34 dedicated key functions!). Figure 15 is a photograph of
the case, opened up to show its contents. The computer board is mounted on
stand-offs, next to the leftmost and rearmost case walls.

I had to make several cuts in the case, which is made of aluminum and therefore
easy to work with.

il

Cutouts were nade in the lafthand wall,
for the ON-OFF SWITCH, the DE-O JOYSTICK
POFT and I alzo made an spening for a
SAVE LOAD SWITCH.

In the rear are “S cutouts for the SONES,
TY, EAR, MIC and MONITOR receptacles as

well as 2 nore, for another DE-9 connec-
tor (FGE cutput) and for th EXPANSION
PORT. The computer board needs careful
alignment, to insure proper mechanical
and electrical cannection of peripherals
to the expansion port.

The second joystick port is too far away
from the righthand case wail and I have
elected not to usa it.I don’t play shoot
*em-up games on my computer and consider
one joystick port sufficient for any of
my reeds. If you do need the secend part
use a set of male/female DB-2 connectors
and a shert 9-conductor cable to male
yourself an extension.

Then there is an opening in the bet
suggest you use something to pr
perf-board).

The case top needs of course a cutout for the keyboard and I also added an opening
for an LED AC power light.

There is no room nor is there a need for a lift-up door far tha "COMMAND
CARTRIDGE". Instead, I made an opening in the front wall and used plastic parts of
the now expendable computer case t3 construct a proper loading ramp for the
cartridges, Spectrum FOM emulators snd such, The cartridge "disappears" completely
into the case, when inserted, so it requires a "retrieval" loop tied to its
handle. To prevent undue collection of dust, I cut the expansion port COVER to—
size, to fit the opening I made for the Command Cartridge perk.

tom of the case for the little tlaudcpeaker. I
otect the speaker zone (I a

Since I also have leather craft and woodworking as other hobbies, it stesd to
reason that I would finish my computer case with genuine lack «aorocca leather,
while the endpieces are veneered with real Brazilian Fosewocd.

I'm quite proud of

this combina-
tion and since there is no TS2968
nor a Spectrum like it, I've dubb-
ed it “SPECTRE 2038" and this logo
is proudly displayed on the case,
in dark-red letters and numerals,
a 2-dimensional epoxy-cast, also a
product of my own hand...

Figure 14 shows the Spectre 2086, but
the xerographic copy of a photograph
does not do this thing of beauty any
justice!

FIGURE 16

X.2 THE TI-99/4A KEYBOARD

To pretty up the hardware project explained and detailed in Parts Z and 4 of this
series, I constructed a "mask" around the TI FB as it is mounted in the TS2968
case, using 1/8 inch BALSAWOOD, available in hobby shops.

Pieces of this wood can be very easily cut with our trusted #11 Xacto knife and
glued to the metal frame-work of the TI KB with fast-curing epoxy. IT SHOULD NOT
PE GLUED TO THE COMPUTER CASE! It can be made to cover the entire periphery around
the keyboard and will still allow the removal of same...

The balsa mask is easi-
ly constructed; rounding Iis
appropriate corners should - ——
make it look quite pleasing. SSS

The wood is to be sealed with AW
balsa filler coat (Aero Gloss \
70-1, available in hobby shops)
and sanded. Next, a coating with
sanding sealer (Aero Gloss 71-1)
and again sanded. A spray or two
of quick-drying silver paint will
give the case avery good-looking
finish.

Figure 17 is a photograph of the final
project. Doesn’t it look neat?

FIGURE 17

XI. THE KEYTOPS

Probably the most time-consuming job is the making of keytops. There is
unfortunately no source for ready-made keytops, like there was in the days of the
TS1000/2X81 (Mule Electronics in the Los Angeles area).

I did see sheets of Spectrum keytops, printed on paper without any adhesive
backing (how stupid!), but these are of such awful artistic quality, I would not
wish them on the keyboards of my worst enemy! They also have rather GARISH red: and
green colors. I can not recommend them... ` `:

So what to do? I have to suggest two approaches to this problem.

But first, I need to discuss the next, related topic.

XI.1 KEYBOARD "MAKE-OVER"
Ever since I’ve been involved in constructing real keyboards for the TS2068, I’ve
followed a particular philosophy and maybe I can get you to side with me. Bear in

mind that we have no room around the keys, so that all legends need to find a
place on the keys themselves.

XI.1.1 - Keytops should be COMPLETE.

This means that functions and commands, not shown on the original 2068 KB, should
be included. I’m talking about CONTRAST (key 9%), TRANSPARENT (key 8), the
COPYRIGHT symbol © (key P) and the BRACES (keys F and G).

XI.1.2 - I think that the keytops should reflect the TRUTH

What this means then, is that the GRAPHIC SYMBOLS (keys 1 through 8) should be
depicted like the resulting video image! In other words the black part on the
keytop design should correspond with the black symbol on screen!

XI.1.3 - Keytops should be COLOR CODED.

All my keyboards show SYMBOL SHIFT in red letters on white keytops. The
corresponding symbols on the various keys are likewise in red on white.

This makes for very easy recognition of these symbols, just like they were on the
original ZX81/TS1000 keyboards. " -
On my 77-key KB, the EXTENDED MODE key is powder-blue, and the corresponding
dedicated functions like READ, DATA, RESTORE etc. are black, but have a
powder~blue top.

CAPS SHIFT is green on white, the corresponding shifted functions on the numerical
keys 1 through O are also in green. The thought behind this is that these legends
are to be put on the same line as the keywords on other keys and should therefore
be differently indicated. Doesn’t this make sense?

Fully color-coded keytops are only possible with transfer lettering, see paragraph
XI.2.

oor Skee eae P Au | ___ PAGE D

Pa EYWORES are important commands a-d should thereécra be
sromisenth, indicated cn the beytcps. Thusly TI have nade them the appermast
Lgends, whereas I hawe put the EXTENDED MODE functions together, 3n the front
z.2pe of the keys, with the standard EM on tcp ard the add tionally SHIFTED EM
Fanct.on immediately below it. I find that these functions are then so much sasier

FIGURE 19
Figure 18 clari-ies my intend; compare this with the corretzending keytops on the
original TS20S6 EE.

ies there are the additional color indications on keys 1 tnrough O (BLUE through

SLACK, including TRANSPARENT and CONTRAST on keys 8 and 9:. These are to be put on
the first Lane of the front key slope; on my large keyboard they are in white on

a black backgrcund, to remind us that they ara NOT EM-functions.

XI.. I - The ENTER key should be prominently marked and therefore be painted ALL
RED, especially with the TI-99/4A keyboard, whose ENTER Ley is not any larger than
the othar keys, contrary to the norm.

XI.2 USING TRANSFER LETTERING

These are the well-known "rub-on" letters and numerals, which can be obtained in
a vast variety of fonts, sizes and also colors. Look for them in a large artist
supplies store (like H.G.Daniels in LA). Not only do such stores have a large
stock, they are also the ones that carry the better brands, such as Letraset and
CHART-FAK. I can not vouch for the lesser known brands often carried by drugstores
and department stores. Besides, they don’t cffer much chceice.

Using rub-on lettering requires a good deal of patience and manual dexterity. I
know that some people simply can not master this and the, always wind up. with
"dancing" letters that are also inconsistently spaced.

I prefer transfer lettering, because it can lead to very professicnal looking
keytcps, that are hard to distinguish from the raal thing.

The keys have to be clean and dustfree before the transfer lettering is applied.
The transfers should be properly burnished and the keys should be given several
coats of a clear lacquer or varnish. BUT FIRST, CHECK THE CHEMICAL COMPATIBILITY
CF THE CLEAR COAT WITH THE TRANSFERS!! Some coats could dissolve the transfers...

XI, USING A FULL-SIZE DOT MATRIX PRINTER
Realizing that many people may not have the patience, agility or artistic
inclination for transfer lettering, I have devised a method using an 80-column dot
matrix printer, black and red ribbon and adhesive-backed 1i"xi.5" labels. The
latter should be of the FERMANENT type and not be removable.

The ribbon should preferably be brand-new, but if you have the MSCRIPT
wordprocessor, it is possible to make high-contrast printings using the built-in
BOLD FACE mode, IN ADDITION to the DOUBLE STRIKE mode of your printer!

Use the CONDENSED printmode on your printer (17 char./inch) and type all 26 key-
words, 25 EM commands, 23 SHIFTED EM commands (these do NOT include the 3
characters on keys Y, U and D), 6 shifted commands of keys 1 - 4, 9 and Q, 10
"color" commands (incl. TRANSPARENT and CONTRAST), BREAK, ENTER, DELETE and other
dedicated keytops on the labels, leaving adequate spaces between them. These
should be in BLACK. Don’t forget to add the Z hidden characters of paragraph

XI.1.1 to the commands RESET, ON ERR and SOUND! _ PAGE E
Note: each word should be limited to seven characters, so type INV.VID instead of
INV. VIDEO, TRU.VID rather than TRUE VIDEO.

Similarly, in RED, type 8 spelled-out symbols (AND, OR etc.) f

In addition, SYMBOL SHIFT (the two words should be typed on two lines, one
directly below the other) and this should be done twice. Leave plenty of room
around these prints; we are going to make a complete keytop out of them, covering
the entire upper surface of the key.

Now switch to the ELITE print mode (12 char./inch) and type all the remaining 28
symbols (!, @, # etc.). You will find that it is not possible to type symbols like
<=, <> or >=. You will have to compose them with the symbols <,> and =.

Back to BLACK and still in the ELITE mode. Print the remaining 3 characters [, J
- and N. Also, the 8 graphic symbols on keys 1-8; most dot matrix printers

have them. Remember to do these symbols "in reverse", e.g. the symbol on key 1
should be black in the first quadrant and not in the end, rd and 4th, as
erroneously depicted on the TS2048 keyboard.

Having successfully done all of the above, we are ready to cut the labels to
size.

With a #11 Xacto knife, carefully cut 11 x 3 millimetre labels, properly centering
the keyword, symbol or command.

Do the same with the red symbols, but limit the length of the labels to the size
of the command or symbol (minimum of 3 mm for single-digit symbols, maximum of- 7
mm for the longest spelled-out symbol commands).

Cut a complete keytop surface label around the SYMBOL SHIFT printings.

Next, cut out the eight graphic symbols.

Fancy your own arrowheads for the 4 cursor keys.
There is no need to replace the existing TI keytops for SHIFT (2x)

I do hope that I have been sufficiently clear in the foregoing. But I should leave
something to your own judgement and creative abilities.

Using tweezers, peel-off each label and Carefully position it on the appropriate
key. The labels should then be firmly burnished, using a smooth piece of plastic.
I like to use the cap ona "Sharpie", the well-known permanent fine-point marker.
I have to emphasize cleanliness in these Operations; fingerprints cause body oil
to inhibit the permanence of adhesion.

Next, finish the keys on five surfaces with several coats of Clear lacquer.

Figure 19 shows a typical key, finished as per above instructions.
Compare it with the "S"-key on the TS2068 keyboard.

Keytops, fashioned in the manner explained by me, are surpri-
singly sturdy. This installment and the previous one were all
typed on my first modified TI KB, in addition to typing in over
20,000 characters into a data base.

There appear to be no signs of wear! I know from experience that
the original TS2048 keytops would not have survived this without

some signs of scuffing... FIGURE 19

I sincerely hope that you will indeed try the hardware projects described in these
pages. Believe me, you won't know the joy of having a full-travel keyboard on your
computer(s), until you own and work one!

Next installment: instructions to implement the SE-JIN TI keyboard...

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